We almost didn’t bother with a review because, well, this is a Neveldine/Taylor movie. These are the guys who made the “Crank” movies and “Gamer”, a movie which literally took the Greater Internet F***wad Theory and turned it into a screenplay.

In their own way, Neveldine/Taylor are actually good directors: they’re visually dynamic and fairly unpretentious about what they do. So pairing them with Nic Cage and “Ghost Rider” should work. And it does, to a point. The problem is, Neveldine/Taylor weren’t allowed to write the script and were saddled with a screenwriting team led by David Goyer. Let’s just say this has all the hallmarks of the cinematic genius behind “Blade: Trinity” and leave it at that.

Still, this is far and away better than Mark Steven Johnson’s terrible “One-Punching CGI Demons”. That’s both a sincere and backhanded compliment, because this isn’t a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, but at least there’s something to work with here: if there’s a third attempt, and Sony actually sticks with Neveldine/Taylor and lets them run around like the Ritalin-addled loons they are, we might finally see a good movie out of this character.

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I think that it’s time to stop giving Neveldine and Taylor a fucking pass. They haven’t made a single worthwhile film. And allowing them to “write” a Ghost Rider script would have been a horrific idea. They were, after all “writers” on Crank, Crank 2, Gamer, and Jonah Fucking Hex. I’m not saying Goyer is an amazing writer, but his track record is faaaar superior.

Goyer had nothing to do with “The Dark Knight”; he suggested a few plot elements, Christopher Nolan patted him on the head, and then they wrote the actual script. “Blade II” features people diving under water to avoid light. “Dark City”, though, I’ll give you, even if it was blatantly a video game script at first.

This is probably the most ramshackle, half-assed, 75-million dollar major Hollywood movie ever made. It constantly switches from day to night during scenes, characters just pop up and then disappear with no explanation and no effort whatsoever is made to hide or explain the fact that the movie was filmed in Romania to save a few bucks. This is Ed Wood level stuff.

That said, if you’re a connoisseur of Crazy Nic Cage, this is the craziest he’s been in quite some time. Also the directing by Neveldine/Taylor may be largely incompetent, but at least the energy of their earlier films is back — the last few (Gamer, Drive Angry) were just plain dull.

So yeah, this is the best “so bad it’s good” Nic Cage movie in a while. See it at the cheap theatres. Definitely don’t shell out for 3D — this movie has maybe the least impressive 3D I’ve ever seen (then again, I never saw Last Airbender).

This is another Sony Features special: produce it as cheaply as possible (if this movie actually cost $75 million, I’ll eat Howard Stringer), and make sure it’s in as many 3D theaters as possible…and as few 2D screens as possible.

I had my issues with it too, but knowing it was a Nic Cage Ghostrider flick, I didn’t go in expecting genius work on any level. Taken for what it is, it wasn’t unwatchable and had some fun moments throughout.

If anything, the shaky camera work nauseated me, and took away from the few action scenes we were actually given. I don’t need motion sickness to grasp the idea that the guys on the big moving picture wall are moving around.

All in all, I had fun though, and that’s what a movie should be, in my opinion.

I saw this flick because it was the centerpiece to a Nic Cage themed birthday party I attended on Friday, where the guests all donned costumes in honor of our favorite Nic Cage characters (I was “Wicker Man” Cage, with a basket adorned with fake bees all over it, and a custom made t-shirt that said “AHHH! NOT THE BEES!” While I didn’t think the movie was good by any stretch of the imagination, (it was downright dog shit, and it deserves all the contempt that’s flung it’s way) I did enjoy Nic Cage’s over-the-top self parody. The line “He’s scratching at the dooOOOoor!” literally made me erupt in laughter, and the moment he told the kid “It was a bee. I thought it was going to… sting your face,” made me jump out of my seat and fist pump.

In summary, if you’re a Ghost Rider fan, avoid. If you’re a fan of Nic Cage’s insanity, look no further.